Chatting at the BGT launch he said: “I don’t believe in the horrible idea of me or the manager telling the guys what they can and can’t do.

“If they really go nuts then I would step in but having a couple of tattoos and a couple of girlfriends isn’t a problem.

“Harry doesn’t hang around, so yeah, I was impressed about Taylor.” Describing himself as the boys’ friend rather than their boss, he added: “I don’t worry about the One Direction lads because I speak to them a lot.

“If there are ever any issues then we deal with them quietly as friends.

“I told them to treat this as the best time of their lives and don’t treat it as work.”